What if you could change your life without really changing your life? On the outside, Gretchen Rubin had it all -- a good marriage, healthy children and a successful career -- but she knew something was missing. Determined to end that nagging feeling, she set out on a year-long quest to learn how to better enjoy the life she already had.

Each month, Gretchen pursued a different set of resolutions -- go to sleep earlier, tackle a nagging task, bring people together, take time to be silly -- along with dozens of other goals. She read everything from classical philosophy to cutting-edge scientific studies, from Winston Churchill to Oprah, developing her own definition of happiness and a plan for how to achieve it. She kept track of which resolutions worked and which didn’t, sharing her stories and collecting those of others through her blog (created to fulfill one of March’s resolutions). Bit by bit, she began to appreciate and amplify the happiness in her life.

The Happiness Project is the engaging, relatable and inspiring result of the author’s twelve-month adventure in becoming a happier person. Written with a wicked sense of humour and sharp insight, Gretchen Rubin’s story will inspire readers to embrace the pleasure in their lives and remind them how to have fun.

Product Description

Review

“For those who generally loathe the self-help genre, Rubin’s book is a breath of peppermint-scented air. Well-researched and sharply written. . . . Rubin takes an orderly, methodical approach to forging her own path to a happier state of mind.” (Kim Crow, Cleveland Plain Dealer)

“Packed with fascinating facts about the science of happiness and rich examples of how she improves her life through changes small and big The Happiness Project made me happier by just reading it.” (Amy Scribner, Bookpage)
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.

Review

"This book made me happy in the first five pages. And the more I read it, the happier I got. It's filled with great insights that have changed every part of my life, from love to money, from work to play, from writing to Diet Coke." —A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically

"A cross between the Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love." —Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness

"Happiness is contagious. And so is The Happiness Project. This is the rare book that will make you both smile and think—often on the same page." —Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.

Most helpful customer reviews

Gretchen Rubin is pretty happy. She's got a wonderful husband, two great little girls, they are financially secure and she's doing what she loves- writing. One day on the bus she comes to a realization- she's happy, but she could be happier. This realization leads her to create a "happiness project"- 12 months of tasks and resolutions that will (hopefully) result in her being the happiest Gretchen that she can be. Armed with her personal 12 commandments and her secrets of adulthood, she sets out on her year-long quest for personal happiness, and "The Happiness Project" is born.

I loved this book! I managed to pick up a lot of great ideas from the tasks that Gretchen set out to do. I learned the most from the months of January (Boost Energy), February (Remember Love), April (Parenthood), and July (Buy Some Happiness). After reading January's chapter I was inspired to organize my home more effectively, February's chapter inspired me to nag my husband less and to be thankful for the great person that he is, April reminded me to be more patient with my frustrating, aggravating, yet amazing children, and July inspired me to make some more concrete goals when it comes to saving money.

Another thing that I liked about the book was that Gretchen never tries to be anything that she isn't. In fact, one of her commandments is "Be Gretchen". When some of her friends tell her that she should take up meditiation, or that she should see a therapist, and those suggestions don't resonate with her personally, she just doesn't do them. She's not saying that they don't work, just that they don't work for her. She doesn't encourage anyone to do "her" happiness project, but to do one that works for "them". She also openly admits when she fails, giving her a human quality that I really appreciated.Read more ›

The idea of this book seemed at first compelling enough for me to buy it, but as I went from chapter to chapter, I found it more difficult to read on. Although no doubt genuine, the author comes across as a bit self-obsessed. Now, in all fairness there's a bit of that in all of us, especially if you're going to buy this book. You're most likely buying it because you're searching for ways to increase your own happiness. Fair enough. Overall though, the writing is unengaging and like listening to someone talk about themselves for hours - just not in an interesting way. Phrases like 'studies show' and quoting statistics were already old by page 40.

Chapter after chapter, I kept giving it a try and ultimately grew bored of her rambling. And yet, this is meant to be a #1 Best Seller? That's definitely a sign of the politics involved in choosing what's a best seller because it's definitely not based on the writing style. If you want to read something that is introspective and yet eloquently written, read Thoreau, Krishnamurti or Gibran.

After giving up on the book, I researched the author (and found out that she is the daughter of Robert Rubin, the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during both the first and second Clinton administrations), and both she and her husband are multimillionaires. I'm not suggesting that if one is swimming in cash that they don't have a right to search for happiness, but at the same time, when _that_ privileged, with hired help keeping your house clean and minding your children, I can't say I feel too much empathy as you stare out your New York high society home, trying to find ways to cope with how difficult your life seems to be.Read more ›

I picked up this book because I wanted something light to read as a change from murder mysteries. It turned out to be a wonderful find. I was skeptical at first because I thought that it would be boring to read about someone's journey and self-analysis to make herself more happy, especially when the person in question seems to "have it all". It seemed just so pointless and self-indulgent. Well, she was right when she says at the beginning of the book that we can learn much from others around us, including how to achieve a happier life. It's very well written, it's engaging and the tone is light, yet fairly deep. Depending of where you're at in you life, some chapters won't be relevant or may be less inspiring but, no matter what, every chapter seems to contain observations that will make you pause -- assuming, of course, that you are open-minded and interested in self-growth. I buy very few books (I'm a faithful library supporter!) but this is one book that I will buy and re-read. It's jam-packed with good common sense tips and reminders that we too often ignore. I will also offer it to my friends and family to inspire them to find ways to enjoy life more and be happier. I haven't read many self-help books so it's hard to compare it but, I give it 5 stars (excellent).

I was feeling down about the fact I haven’t been writing much over the past few months. I have read five books since I last posted, one that I really enjoyed (The Golem and the Jinni), but couldn’t find the words to describe my feelings about these stories. Then I pulled Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project off my shelf and hoped that it would inspire me to be a) happy, b) inspired to write and c) give me some form of positive outlook on things happening in my life.

I rarely put a book down. It feels like a defeat to me; that there was a story out there that failed to capture my attention, or a project I started but didn’t finish. But alas, I put The Happiness Project down with less than 100 pages to go. I started off really enjoying the book. Rubin goes through how she came up with the concept of putting a happiness project in place. Sitting on a bus one day, realizing that life was passing her by and wondering if she was getting the most out of it, she set certain goals throughout the year - her happiness project - to “appreciate and amplify the happiness in her life.”

Before reading any book, I like to take a quick look at reviews. For those wondering, among the book review sites I regularly visit are goodreads.com and amazon.ca. I was surprised that people were complaining about Rubin’s book, a common sentiment being that she was too selfish and self-absorbed. I find that a strange view to take of someone telling a story of their personal journey. They are the subjects of their own experiment so of course it’s going to sound self-absorbed.

However, through the course of the book I realized what these critics were talking about.Read more ›